Security Issue Turns Around London Flight

A Boston-bound American Airlines jet with 240 passengers and 13 crew aboard returned to London’s Heathrow airport on Monday over a security issue, but there was no threat to the aircraft, the company said.

An airline spokeswoman did not give details, but a U.S. Department of Homeland Security official said a male passenger on the flight had matched a name on a U.S. “no-fly” list.

“Flight AA109 … is returning to Heathrow airport due to a potential security issue that needs to be resolved in London,” the airline said in a statement. “There is no threat to the aircraft.”

An American Airlines spokeswoman later told Reuters in London that the incident was now closed.

I work with a guy whose name was on the ‘No Fly’ list. No, he isn’t a terrorist, nor has he ever been one. Yet, he’d often get held up at airport counters until his name was cleared. The whole thing makes me wonder how effective the list is. How is it maintained? How often is is updated, filtered, added to, revised?